


Let me show you, girl

by Lacerta



Series: Let me show you [1]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: badass!Peter, competent!Peter, the internet needs more of him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-31 00:48:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3958195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacerta/pseuds/Lacerta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I might be good, but no one is good enough to enter the local bandits' pit, stroll casually through the corridors, open the cells and escape with three of their newest prisoners – <i>alone</i>!"</p><p>Gamora could almost see the cogs in Peter's head turning – first, confusion, then amusement and a barely visible trace of disbelief, and after that, determination.</p><p>"There's like no way I'm letting you go on your own."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let me show you, girl

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this ages ago, more or less for a prompt, because there was literally no competent!Peter online that I could find back then. I don't think it changed that much and most likely there is still a shortage of that. So here you are, enjoy!
> 
> Cheers for my beta-readers, Yoru and Nika!

It was the first time Peter heard Gamora speak so much in her native language. It was a pity, he reckoned, that it was all curses. Star-Lord was pretty sure it had the potential to be the equivalent of French among the languages of space if used in more intimate conditions.

"If you want to pour your frustration down on me, then sorry, I don't speak your yadda-yadda. Universal trade language, if you may?" He settled for a request instead of mentioning his linguistic observation which, he knew, she wouldn't appreciate. It wasn't wise to anger an assassin, after all.

Peter looked up from the Milano's control panel to Gamora's face. Maybe he was an idiot 'cause somehow he managed to infuriate her anyway.

"We screwed up!," she yelled. "I told you splitting up was a foolish idea! That's why the rest of the team was kidnapped."

"Well," he reasoned, "if we all had gone to meet our new contractor, we'd have all ended up locked in their dungeons and who would've rescued us?" He paused. "Dey might've come looking for us if we disappeared for too long, I guess, but that wouldn't be soon enough to follow our trace, so..."

"At least we would have stayed together! I might be good, but no one is good enough to enter the local bandits' pit, stroll casually through the corridors, open the cells and escape with three of their newest prisoners – alone!"

Gamora could almost see the cogs in Peter's head turning. She found him ridiculously easy to read, it was all in his eyes – first, confusion, then amusement and a barely visible trace of disbelief, and after that, determination.

"There's like no way I'm letting you go on your own. Or have I missed the memo that I was excluded from the team?" Star-Lord bent over the screen he'd been working on. "Here, the recording of the kidnapping, I've already watched it, the quality is shitty as hell but it's all we got. Drax was shot, hopefully nothing too serious, look." Gamora hid her astonishment and came closer, attentively watching the video feed. If Peter played it once again maybe she could recognize... But he was already pulling an ID up on the screen. "I've found out who was behind the trap, remember him?"

She did. The Guardians have come across him by utter accident, destroying his plans of introducing their new product. Basically, it involved a few well-placed explosions, killing enough people to create a demand for their "advanced protection barriers". In reality, complete trash.

"Drewar," she nodded.

"And I might or might not been able to hack into Nova servers and steal us blueprints of his forces' most probable headquarters. We might have a way in."

It took Gamora a few seconds to fully grasp the meaning of his words. While all she did was raging and cursing Peter, among many others, he didn't waste a single minute. The assassin clenched her jaw and demanded, "Cue me in."

***

Crouching behind some fortunately placed debris on an almost deserted planetoid, Star-Lord run a last check of his equipment. All of his weapons were exactly where they were supposed to be, blaster's control light shone brightly, indicating it was fully charged. He had his mask on – it didn't just let him breathe in the outer space, it also served as a rather useful targeting and alerting system with some basic HUD inside.

He couldn't depend on the feed from Milano's sensors like he did most of the time. The ship was left far behind, otherwise they would have showed up on the enemy's radar. Their plan required stealth... well, up to some point.

While Milano's sensors were out of the game, the mask had some of its own and they were showing only two heat centers near the entrance of the building. One of them was surprisingly big so Quill expected either three opponents, or two with one of a massive body. Damned aliens, you never knew what to expect! Either way, it meant that he needed three precise shots (those bulky brutes were often more resistant) before they drew their own guns. Peter took a deep, steadying breath and smiled. He could do it. He was, after all, Star-Lord!

The Guardian leaned out from behind the debris and fired three rapid shots in few swift moves. Not waiting till the enemies fell down, he jumped over his cover and run towards the entrance, slowing down only to shoot once more, at the security camera. He knew it would alert other guards – if the gurgling sounds of their defeated men, which they had to hear through the comms, hadn't already – but he ignored it, trotting inside the building instead.

The narrow corridors were easy, fun, almost. The foes couldn't surround him and they were almost too keen on running around the corners without even trying to check if he was waiting for them. It was when the corridors morphed into a spacious hall that he was forced to drop his weapon.

More like held at the gunpoint, stranded, stranded and manhandled, but hey, semantics. At least his blaster was close enough (the greenish short man behind him on the left kept it) and they tied him with synthetic rope instead of that wicked space version of zip ties which was honestly hard to free from. Besides, it was just a matter of time until they brought him to face their leader. Or rather, if he was to judge from the guards' rushed words, Drewar himself was coming to see their Peter.

It took all of Quill's might not to start grinning at the thought. The plan worked _flawlessly_.

***

After Peter took down the security camera at the entrance to the building, as well as those in the front corridors, and captured all the enemy's attention, getting inside their headquarters was a walk in the park. Even if Gamora was caught by any of the remaining cameras, she doubted anyone would notice, with the guards swarming around Star-Lord instead of idling in front of the security panels. The rest of the adversary forces were already informed of what the commotion was about and convinced it was already being taken care of. Fools.

Slipping in the hall wasn't much more difficult and she pondered over how they had managed to stay on top of the villain food chain with such an obvious lack of skills. She suspected that their success was the result of their sheer numbers. The apparent safety of their home base wasn't playing in their favor either.

Drewar's arrival almost made her drew her throwing blades. Not so long ago she would have done exactly that and killed the criminal the second she saw him. Now, however, she had a team to think of. And one of her teammates was in the middle of the armed group, not that he looked very concerned. He was a fool as well.

"Peter Quill", Drewar greeted the Guardian mockingly. "The man who is said to be the greatest law-keeper the space has ever seen."

"Wow, man, you make me blush." Peter's cheekiness was rewarded with a hard fist landing on his stomach. He gasped, but after regaining his breath stubbornly stood straight. Drewar continued as if nothing had interrupted him.

"I was expecting to capture you soon, Guardian. Somewhere forgotten in the gutter, perhaps, abandoned by your pretty assassin who blames you for your so-called-team's failure. Am I not right?" Gamora hated how that bastard managed to predict her initial reaction. Was she really that obvious? "It must be tough, when your fifteen minutes of fame passes and you're back where you started – reduced to a man who even the Ravagers think lowly of... But then again, how would I know since I have never been so pathetic like you are?"

The automatic laughter of Drawer's minions was so cliché it hurt. It wasn't even funny, for Void's sake! Sometimes the assassin wished more villains were like Thanos. He, at least, didn't stoop to this ridiculous nonsense.

"I admit," Drawer went on with his monologue and Gamora wondered if the man would go as far into clichés as revealing his secret plan of world domination, "that you managed to surprise me, Guardian, and it does not happen very often. You failed to gain my respect, though. You were either truly desperate or simply daft to try to rescue your equally pathetic friends on your own.”

"You know, someone has already told me that it's not a one-man job." Star-Lord raised his head and smiled at his captor. "That's why I didn't let her come here alone," he added at the same moment at which Gamora left her hiding in the shadows and seemingly effortlessly strangled one of the guards.

She quickly ducked as at least three different weapons fired at her, then dashed to the closest thug and used his body as a shield. She glanced sideways at Quill. It probably shouldn't have surprised her that he was already in motion, having cut the fetters with a knife he had hidden in a side pocket of his trousers. Most probably, it wasn't the first time he was caught, tied and had to take advantage of the sudden distraction, judging by the fluency of his movements.

Not letting herself to lose focus, Gamora slipped the gun from the dead guard's holster and, still shielded by his body, she quickly shot three more men. Two of them won't get up again – shots in the head and heart tended to end this way. The third one was lucky, as the bullet hit only his forearm, but still he shouldn't be able to aim properly with his weaker arm.

Peter was already fighting, she knew by the sound of his blaster. It was good thing that Gamora paid attention to the noises around her, otherwise she wouldn't have noticed the taser fired at her and ended up electrocuted along with the body she held. Without much thought, she pushed the corpse forward, while she threw herself left, rolling towards two nearest thugs. As soon as she reached them, she swept them off their feet before finishing them with two precise shots to their chests. When she swirled around to the rest of enemies, she found herself gaping.

There was no rest of enemies. All of them were already lying motionless on the floor, even their captain was twitching in postmortem spasms.

After collecting a key card from the captain's jacket, Peter nodded at her, not smiling anymore, and rested the blaster on his shoulder. "You've seen where the prison they were gonna take me to is?"

"Of course." The assassin bridled at his lack of faith. "I have already taken care of the guards in the way while you were busy playing captured."

Although, she had to admit, she was the one who was to blame for serious underestimating. Even if Peter wouldn't be able to escape so easily if not for Gamora's entrance, his skill surprised her. Only when Peter scratched his cheek and smeared it with greenish blood did she realize that the small knife Quill used to free himself served also as a deadly weapon. His hands and sleeves were almost completely covered in blood, yet as far as Gamora could tell, none of it had typical for Terrans dark shade of red. Apparently Peter could be as lethal as any other Guardian.

Leading him through the corridors, the assassin pondered about the fact that they all accepted Groot as a seemingly innocent but dangerous Colossus, when at the same time they stayed blind to Star-Lord's capabilities. Somehow his easy-going personality, constant jokes and ever-present music made them consider him the weakest link in the team. It was a serious oversight. If he'd been their enemy, they'd have been dead by now. Stepping over another dead body on their way to the holding cells, Gamora promised to herself that she'd be more cautious in the future. And that she would observe Peter more attentively.

When he told her he'd stay on guard while she freed their team, she looked him up and down... and let him.

If few days ago someone had told her she'd trust Peter with the task of keeping anybody alive, she'd have called them insane. That only proved how terribly misguided she was.

The holding cells were similar to the glass ones at Kyln – almost soundproof but not entirely, which made it a bit more difficult to ignore the imprisoned thugs who shouted insults and greeted her with obscene gestures. Fortunately, it also meant that finding the captured Guardians was immensely easier. She would recognize Rocket's colorful curses everywhere.

When the assassin reached the right cell and used the key card, Rocket actually shut up for a second. Then, when the glass door opened, he resumed his yelling.

"Couldn't have waited longer? We had such a great time being locked down and all, maybe if we stayed a few days, they'd've started experimenting on us already!" Gamora ignored him in favor of quickly checking up on Drax. Complaining didn't stop. "And our tattooed friend here might've bled to death, not that you care enough to hurry your ass up!"

Drax wasn't really bleeding that much, the injury was wrapped up as well as it was possible in these conditions. Judging by his slightly unfocused eyes, he was probably a bit weakened but he'd been through worse before and lived.

"Groot, could you help Drax? We need to get out of here."

"I am Groot," came a soft response. Gamora had no idea what he meant and Rocket was in no mood to translate but she supposed he agreed, as the Colossus grew additional branches in order to support Drax even better.

The Destroyer didn't refuse help, which said more about his condition than a short check-up could. He was still conscious enough, though, to coherently share his surprise.

"You have astonished me, my friend, by successfully coming to our rescue on your own."

The assassin frowned. "I didn't exactly..."

They all turned around to the door abruptly, when a sudden sound of an energy blast cut their conversation short. Neither the attacker, nor the target were field of view, the Guardians saw only a blue glow of fired plasma. That is, until Peter leaned against the door frame.

"Sorry to interrupt you, guys, but it's not like we have that much time before their back-up will arrive." Quill threw a stolen gun in Rocket's direction. "The biggest one they've got, it seems, hope you're happy. And, by the way, great job yelling and attracting attention of every guard in the building. We have to move, now," he ordered.

And they listened. With Rocket perched on Groot's shoulder acting as a vanguard, Gamora and Quill taking care of any pursuers, the escape was a breeze. The Guardians managed to get out of the building before the bandits managed to organize themselves. Rocket, and who knew where he got the parts, left a gift, which he made while in the prison, on the doorstep. The bomb's explosion range wasn't very wide but it sure stopped the foes from rushing out of the building through the main exit and gave the raccoon time to hot-wire a vehicle (the driver hadn't stood a chance).

"I really hope they won't hit on an idea to board a space ship and follow us. Last time they did quite a number on us", Quill muttered, punching an opening code to the Milano's entrance. He did not mention that they had to take care of Drax'es injuries as soon as possible and a ship under fire was not a safest place for the wounded but the assassin read it from the Star-Lord's concerned voice.

Only when the hatch closed behind the Guardians did Gamora stop sweeping over the horizon in anticipation of enemy troops approaching and let her eyes wander to Quill who was already launching the ship in the air, activating Milano's systems with skilful, confident moves. He was more than met the eye. Who would have though? Definitely not her.

Groot was already producing a soothing pollen and Rocket dashed off to fetch medical supplies for Drax. Gamora found herself helping the Destroyer lie down and unwrapping the bandages. They worked seamlessly as a team. It was a time to appreciate Peter's share in their successes. After all, he wasn't as inept as he appeared to be.

"Uh, guys?", Quill broke the comfortable silence with a sheepish grin. "You might want to avoid answering any calls from the Nova Corps for a while. Somehow it seems that they don't like it when we hack their servers for classified data, even if we end up taking down the bad guys."

Gamora rolled her eyes, accompanied by Rocket's theatrical groan, but smiled. Even if Peter ceased to be the incompetent weakest link of the team, she supposed he will never stop being the one that relieve the tension when they most needed it.


End file.
